People who move to a new country often do not settle into a permanent location immediately, but tend to be as mobile as the local population. People who had moved permanently to New Zealand from overseas between 2005 and 2007 may no longer live at their first New Zealand usual residence. In this short period, more than one-third (36 percent) of movers to New Zealand had moved within the country.
Table 7
Movers to New Zealand
By region of current residence
March 2005–2007 quarters |
| Region |
Not moved since arrival |
Moved within/to region |
Movers to New Zealand |
|
(000) |
| Auckland |
39.0 |
18.5 |
57.5 |
| Waikato |
6.0 |
- |
8.2 |
| Wellington |
5.4 |
6.7 |
12.1 |
| Remaining North Island(1) |
9.7 |
5.0 |
14.6 |
| Canterbury |
7.2 |
7.7 |
14.9 |
| Remaining South Island(2) |
6.9 |
- |
9.5 |
| Region stated |
74.1 |
42.6 |
116.7 |
(1) Northland, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, Hawke's Bay, Taranaki and Manawatu-Wanganui regions combined.
(2) Tasman, Nelson, Marlborough, West Coast, Otago and Southland regions combined.
Symbol: - Figure not available due to low response for the category.
Note: Figures are based on respondents who specified both first and current residence in New Zealand.
Two-thirds of the movers from overseas who initially settled in the Auckland region were still living at the same address, and the remaining one-third had now settled at a different residence. About 3,000 had moved from other regions to Auckland (mainly from Waikato). Almost all movers from overseas who first settled in Auckland (92 percent) remained living in the Auckland region, higher than recorded percentages for the Wellington and Canterbury regions (87 and 88 percent, respectively).